Unlikely Game Heroines

June 24th, 2011
©Nintendo

Remember me? ©Nintendo

Samus and Lara may be classic, but the video game world is full of laudable female characters, not all of them so obvious. Beyond the busty beach volleyball and high-heeled martial arts lay hidden jewels of model femmes.

King (Art of Fighting & King of Fighters)

Compared to other SNK fighters, the androgynous King is an oddity in the midst of characters like the overtly sexualized Mai Shiranui or the “cute but deadly” Yuri. It may seem obvious to gravitate towards such an unfeminine character when attempting to break out against sexist depictions of women and to idolize the complete opposite of mainstream ideas of what it means to be a girl, but this isn’t what I’m trying to do by choosing King. While it’s a given that a worthy heroine should subvert popular over generalizations of femininity to some degree, she should also be comfortable enough with her sex that she can reinvent her gender on her own terms.

Early in her storyline, King dealt with the limitations of her gender in a male-dominated world by pretending to be a man. Her manner of dress and behavior reflects an inclination towards masculinity even after she no longer needed to cross-dress to be a fighter. However, she was always secure with her sexuality and interacting with men on a romantic level, i.e. Ryo Sakazaki, without worrying about power struggles. And what I love the most about her is, as a member of the Women’s Team, how comfortable she is interacting with other women as well. Her masculine style is not a complete throwing off of what it means to be a woman; she embraces her sex and merely chose to reinvent her gender role.

Despite the dubious depictions of many of their characters (Mai’s chest is pretty bouncy for a flying ninja), fighting games are a favorite of mine for female role models since, as a mechanic of the genre, all characters are naturally equal in power regardless of their sex.

Misty (Pokémon)

For once, it’s time that someone lauded the travails of the friend-zoned girl instead of the usual friend-zoned guy. In the Pokémon games, Misty’s character is hardly a character at all since she only appears as a gym leader, but her manifestation in the anime became one of the most realistic, likeable, and admirable women from a gaming franchise. Firstly, she possesses the requisite multi-faceted personality that refutes the popular opposing archetypes of overly girly loyal sidekick and hardened but kickass bitch. Also, she is so confident in her identity that her roiling temper and her romantic personality are not in conflict with each other; both are integral parts of her complex self regardless of their gender in/appropriateness. For her, doing her best to accomplish her goals and become a better gym leader is the purpose for her life, and being a girl is the spice that adds variety and challenge to her journey.

If only Ash wasn’t so oblivious, and Misty’s successors were underwhelming at best. It really is true when people say the show peaked with its original seasons, and not only because Team Rocket’s jingle got super old.

Pamper your feminine side with a Campus Clipper coupon for a $7 manicure at Floris Day Spa. Your inner heroine deserves it.

-Avia Dell’Oste

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onValues: Beating the Summer Mean Reds

June 23rd, 2011

I’ve been tearing up a lot lately.  Usually, I’m not the type to become visibly emotional; it’s a special movie that can make me cry, and The Notebook is not it.  Without turning this blog (and my first post in it) into an uncomfortably personal emotional dump, I’ll just say that these verges of tears and waves of crippling depression had their roots in something almost every college student will encounter: rejection.  Not romantic rejection, but professional rejection.  I had applied for summer thesis funding, a creative thesis, various summer project awards, internships, apartment leases—all the things I’d need for a summer in the city, preparing myself for senior year and beyond.  I was rejected from every one.

Of course, we can’t always get what we want, but in my defense, this felt like a long buildup of confirmations that I was going nowhere with my college education and that the talents I thought would help me post-graduation actually were worthless.  It felt like the start of a movie-perfect midlife crisis: what am I going to do with my future? What can I actually do with my future? How am I going to occupy my summer now? What am I going to do for three months if I go home to North Carolina (I don’t even live in the interesting parts of North Carolina)? Why am I living in a tent outside one of the university buildings, taking a shower on a narrow fire escape, and sitting on facebook stalking my friends’ more interesting, employed lives?  (The partial answer to that last question is that I belong to a club that owns a house property unaffiliated with the university—so technically I can stay for free.  I chose a tent because the house has no air conditioning and gets stuffy at night.  The shower—we’re just remodeling the third floor shower so we hooked a hose between the faucet and nozzle and attached the nozzle to the roof, then rigged up a shower curtain over the stairs.  It’s actually very refreshing, if seemingly precarious.)

Typically, we get out of these funks with some swift TLC; a movie marathon, or a massive party, or an extra long session at the gym.  Once we get that quick boost of endorphins, serotonin, or dopamine, we’re fine again, and we can make new plans.  I typically take a night to bake cupcakes and watch trashy movies with girls who beat up bad guys.  Another one of my friends locks himself in a bathroom and sings opera at the top of his lungs.  These are some ways to battle through.  But for me, this avalanche of rejection started in mid-April, and now, two months later, I’m still biting my lip and getting bleary-eyed at work.  I’m still living in that tent ever since dorm housing kicked me out after commencement, the commute expenses to my new job in the city will build up, and there are only so many nights I can spend with the rest of the displaced housemates in the house watching HBO and getting slowly drunk.  Even though I did find a job and I’ve been through a whirlwind of reunion parties with scattered friends passing through the city, the sadness is still there—this insecurity and student-adult crisis sticks around and it sticks through our usual solutions.  Now the issue isn’t that we have foolish plans and that we’re ill-prepared—we’ve just been trapped in a mood.

These mean reds (not just the blues, as Holly Golightly would specify) might take something a little more drastic or public to break out of the months-long mold of dissatisfaction and hopelessness.  Take an impromptu trip (really, your schedule of job searching and apartment hunting can afford it) to the beach.  Book a train to Philadelphia and go to Wayne—Valley Forge is there.  Or, for more of a more city-based escape, there’s always Karaoke Boho (25% off on weekends, 50% off during the week), where another friend of mine gets brave and belts Adele when she’s feeling the mean reds—the extreme public performing snaps her funk like nothing else.  Or you can go to BLICK art materials, which has a 20% discount on art supplies, and stock up on some inspiration material.  If you can’t get inspired, you can always do what I did for Halloween last year:

KOKO

Jackson Pollocked my entire body, then sat for therapeutic hours peeling strips of paint from my skin.

I might just do that this weekend.  For the rest of you in my same position of life:okay, and mind:rough, I wish you luck in feeling good!

x
Robin

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Attention Shakespeare Fans!

June 23rd, 2011

As an English major and book-lover, I have (of course) a secret nerdy obsession with William Shakespeare. I’ve seen all the movies, been to shows, taken classes focusing on ALL of his plays and memorized countless lines from them. And every year I try to make it to a Shakespeare in the Park show, but with work and summer classes, sadly, I’ve never been able to. This summer, however, I vow to make it to a show. The only problem is picking which one to see!

This summer’s featured plays are Measure For Measure and All’s Well That Ends Well. The plays run for about two and a half hours with a fifteen-minute intermission. The cast is the same for both plays, and includes some movie and television stars such as Annie Parisse and Dakin Matthews.  Measure For Measure is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays (meaning it is not easily classified as a comedy or tragedy) about truth, lust and justice.  Also generally considered a problem play, All’s Well That Ends Well focuses on trickery, social class and marriage.

The performances started on June 6th and the last show will be on July 30th.  Tickets are free (!) and are distributed at 1 pm on the day of each performance. They are given out on a first come, first served basis, so getting there early is essential. Every show is at 8 pm in the Delacorte Theater in Central Park (the nearest entrances are 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Ave). A friend of mine went and said that even though she had to wait on line for a few hours, it was worth the wait and was even “kind of fun to stand with everyone and anxiously wait for tickets.” Take note, however, that tickets are limited to two per person and there are rules to follow while waiting on line (scalped tickets are not accepted and if you cut the line or cause a ruckus they have the right to remove you from the line—basic stuff, really). But food is allowed in and they also have concession stands with sandwiches, snacks and drinks. The hard part is just getting the tickets. Once you have them, the day can be spent picnicking in Central park, visiting the Met, and seeing the show at night. Even for someone who isn’t a Shakespeare buff like myself, this could be a day to be remembered. It’s a rare opportunity to not only see a Shakespeare play for free but see one put on by such an amazing production company—they have been performing Shakespeare plays in the park for fifty seven years to crowds of 1,500 people a night! Personally I’m leaning more towards All’s Well That Ends Well, so if any of you make it out maybe you’ll see me there. I’ll be the goofy girl intensely watching and most likely cheering and screaming at the end. Listed below are the dates that each show is playing:

All’s Well That Ends Well

June 6, 7, 13, 15, 18, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29

July 11, 12, 18, 19

Measure For Measure

June 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25

July 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 25, 26, 27

—Jackie Aqel

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To Plan or not to Plan?

June 23rd, 2011

As students, we are often told by more than one well-meaning parental figure that planning is a major factor in achieving success or failure. We’re supposed to have a plan for selecting a major; we’re supposed to have a plan to thwart the dreaded freshman fifteen; we’re supposed to have a plan for what we’re doing after school while we’re still in school…With so much planning, sometimes it’s nice to just give into a random impulse or spontaneously do something simply because the idea popped into your head.

I did just that last week, and now, I have a nose ring.

In the words of John Lennon: "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans."

Let me start at the beginning. It was nearing 11:30pm on a weeknight and my friend and I were craving pasta. We were supposed to go to bed early because we both had obligations the next day, but the more we thought about fresh vegetables sautéed in olive oil and served on top of ziti, the more our initial plan to go to sleep seemed absurd. So with aspirations of an impromptu pasta party for two, we began searching for ingredients.

First, we tried a Duane Reade, and were disappointed by the lack of produce. Additionally, there was no ziti to be found, only angel hair and elbow macaroni. By the time we trekked to Gristede’s, our fears that the grocery store had already closed were confirmed as the automatic doors refused to open no matter how much we jumped, waved, and stomped, hoping to trigger some sort of motion or weight sensor.

Close to giving up, I suggested we make the best of the minimal selection at a 24-hour CVS, but that’s when my friend recalled a grocery store on St. Mark’s that she though might be open all night. Hopeful, we power-walked east, soon immersed in the eclectic counter-culture that gathers on St. Mark’s.

Eventually, we reached what looked like a design for a tattoo parlor; an underground shop brandishing a logo of a heart with giant angel wings and a halo suspended above its “head.” But, it wasn’t a tattoo shop; it was our destination, St. Mark’s Market. A gourmet godsend with the promise of “Open Always.”

As I attempted to select the perfect garlic clove to flavor our midnight feast, my friend blurted, “Hey, isn’t that piercing place you always go to close by?”

When I confirmed that her suspicions were true, we somehow came to the conclusion that she should get a new ear piercing. After minimal badgering on her part, I agreed that pending the cost of our snacking spree, I would also get a piercing.

Thankfully, the bounty we selected from St. Mark’s Market was so well priced I was able to afford a stud for my left nostril. Sure, I woke up with a slight soreness from my fashionable puncture wound. And yes, I was a little more tired and full than I planned on being when I woke up for work. But the bonding session I had with my friend thanks to pasta and piercings was worth the minor inconveniences. Sometimes, it’s worth it to scrap the plans, and just go with the flow.

-Alex Agahigian-

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Endorphins

June 23rd, 2011

When I started college, I had the same fears as everybody else: will I be able to handle my class work? Will my roommate and I get along? And most importantly, will I make friends?! But after settling into my routine d finding a group of people I love to hang out with, one college horror still haunted me: the Freshmen Fifteen.

Although my high school years had been filled with volleyball and other recreational sports, in college I suddenly stopped exercising. I didn’t even have the long walks to school like I had in high school, and having an unlimited meal plan definitely didn’t help. In October I finally got my act together and headed to the gym.

I had all the regular reasons for going—stay fit, lead a healthy lifestyle, stress reduction, etc. But after my first day I discovered an entirely new reason for going to the gym: endorphins. Cardio activity gave such a boost to my mood it was incredible. Leaving the gym I couldn’t help but smile at how great everything was—the sky, the people around me, the feeling of doing something great for my body. Although I had started going to the gym just because it was healthy, it turned into something much more personal, a form of medication in a sense. It’d lift my spirits when the long winter days seemed to drag on, or put a smile back on my face when classes or social drama tried to wipe it off.

Endorphins are a neurotransmitter released during exercise (as well as during times of excitement, pain, danger, the consumption of spicy food, love, and more) and create a feeling of happiness. I called it ‘self-medication’ before because it’s like taking an instant anti-depressant, yet naturally—and legally.

I know you’ve heard all the reasons for why you should exercise more before: it reduces health risks, improves brain functions, etc. But try exercising for endorphins instead; it might be more motivating than attempting to avoid that heart attack when you’re 60. Your school is a great place to start, colleges often have free gyms available, and free or cheap classes that you can take if you want something more than a treadmill. Public gyms around New York also have great deals for the summer and/or for students, so don’t be afraid to try those out. Synergy Fitness Clubs have a student promotion of $39 monthly; Crunch has a summer student special for $199 for the entire summer; New York Sports Club has an all-year student discount for $20 a month. Other gyms in the New York area include Equinox, David Barton, Bally Total Fitness, Lucille Roberts, and more. Campus Clipper also offers more discounts to a wide variety of fitness locations, so check them out.

/elizabeth Kaleko

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Posted in onHealth, onLife | 2 Comments »

DVP in NYC

June 23rd, 2011

As we continue to enjoy the changing of the seasons in 2011 and welcome the warmer weather, one group of people will be embracing this change through dance. Dances For A Variable Population (or DVP) is a dancing company headed by choreographer Naomi Goldberg Haas. As the name implies, DVP is a group that knows no boundaries when it comes to the gender, race, or age of its members. Polished dancers and enthusiastic amateurs grace the stage together, led by Haas, orchestrating performances in contemporary dance.

This week, starting on Wednesday June 22nd and running until Saturday June 25th, DVP will be performing in the newly renovated Washington Square Park, located downtown in Greenwich Village at the base of  5th Avenue. The eastern side of the park had been closed since late 2007 because of a continuing restoration project, but was re-opened June 2nd of this year. The re-opening was delayed as the eastern end renovations were originally supposed to be finished by Fall 2010.

DancesForAVariablePopulation

DVP performing "Autumn Crossing" in September 2010

In any case, DVP welcomes the changes the park has undergone and will have this sentiment on full display throughout the week as they stage their performances on the re-opened eastern side of Washington Square Park. Each day’s performance will begin at 6:30 P.M. with a pre-show beginning at 6:00, occurring throughout the entire park. Any and all can come view their performance free of charge.

The free shows will consist of a dance ensemble performed to remixes of “In C”, the well-known Terry Riley composition of 1964. Those who are familiar with “In C” know how shocking it was when first composed, since the nature of the composition leaves much to chance, making any given performance of the piece different from every other. The composition’s improvisational nature should make DVP’s remixed interpretation and their accompanying dance arrangement distinctive, surprising, and an exciting performance to see in person.

Most unique about this performance, however, will be DVP themselves. Since DVP as a group does not restrict participation to pros, their corps of dancers is composed of New Yorkers from all walks of life. The group’s ethos is best articulated on Haas’ website, which states that DVP consists of everyone from “children who think dance is only on MTV, to persons with disabilities who think dance is denied them, to seniors who think dance is beyond them.” More information about Naomi Goldberg Haas, DVP and the events and classes that they organize can be found at www.naomigoldberghaas.com.

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: David Kimelman

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Super 8

June 23rd, 2011

The other day I was fortunately able to convince my friend to go see Super 8, the new movie written and directed by J. J. Abrams. The movie follows a few pre-teens in a small Ohio town in 1979 as they try to write and film their own zombie movie to submit in a contest. But one night as the kids are filming they witness a fantastic train derailment, which then throws the town into a frenzy as air force militia try to keep the incident under wraps.

As the kids attempt to overcome their parents’ proscriptions and grudges so that they can finish their film, they delve deeper into the mystery behind the train accident and discover that the U.S. Air Force is attempting to hide something mysterious and terrifying from the townspeople. This movie is a great portrayal of a family trying not to fall apart and the bonds of friendship being tested, as well as a young budding romance—all tied up with a classic Steven Spielberg-style alien encounter, which makes perfect sense since the king of the blockbuster is one of the producers of Super 8.

Although I found the final scenes slightly predictable, I feel I definitely got my money’s worth from the great mix of emotions that the movie provokes, ranging from desperation, infatuation, fear, anger, and joy. I strongly recommend this film, and even if you’re not willing to pay the outrageous $13 NYC ticket price, try going to a matinee showing instead—they’re often half price, just check out the theaters near you to see which ones offer this discount.

And after, if Joe and his friends have inspired you, maybe you can try to write and film your own homemade zombie flick—or a romance, whichever you prefer! It’s a fun project to do with friends, and screening the finished product is a great way to bring people together and show off. Phototech can cover all of your camera repair needs if things get a bit heated and your lens cracks, as Charles’ does in Super 8, and all for a 10% off student discount.

/elizabeth Kaleko

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Posted in Movies, onEntertainment | 1 Comment »

New Age Breakup

June 22nd, 2011

The click of a mouse and now everyone knows you are single!

Everyone in their life experiences that dreaded moment of breaking up with someone or being broken up with, yet in today’s world this process has become even more complicated. There was once a time when you simply ignored phone calls or forced yourself not to call that past love or mistake, but now a clean break is almost impossible because of social media as well as texting.  Nowadays it is common for an ex to be merely a text away and oddly enough your “friend” on facebook, which can easily and constantly remind a person about their past relationship because of mutual tagged photos.  This makes it all so hard to completely disconnect with a person and stunts the process of closure that is usually very necessary at the end of a relationship.  Texting and the hyper-connection of social media are all fine and dandy if you can handle remaining friends with an ex but for most people it’s usually a source of upset and drama.

The event of breaking up has become in many ways embarrassing because “everyone” knows about the failure of a relationship when a person’s facebook status changes from “In a Relationship” to “Single”. The worst part is people can comment on the situation and facebook friends can even “like” your entrance into singlehood.  Instead of a reassuring phone call or face-to-face talk explaining to friends what happened, many times texting replaces what I feel is essential to moving on, which is just talking about it, especially with close friends. The times have changed and people have changed too. It has become a social norm to be insensitive to others during a never easy experience and to make moving on so much harder than it really needs to be.  It’s for that very reason that I feel when changing your relationship status on facebook you should immediately delete the post after doing so or make it private, unless it’s something you’d like to share with your facebook friends. But for most part, the experience is quite the nuisance, so to avoid the possibility of hurting your own feelings or your ex’s it’s probably not the best idea to advertise your breakup. However, when the times comes that you’d like to make others aware you are single, make it public on your info page to get the point across.

Heated debate exists around whether or not it’s okay to remain friends with an ex on facebook, my feelings and advice depend on whether the break up was “bad” or not. Everyone is curious as to what their ex is up to after breaking up but it’s not healthy to be updated every passing second of your life! If you find yourself checking their page obsessively and notice it pretty much always leaves you with a feeling of discomfort then I suggest not being friends with your ex on facebook. To forget someone these days you need to delete him or her from your electronic life, cell contacts, as well as from your own biting reality. On the other hand, if you find yourself not caring about your ex’s life appearing on yours newsfeed then you can leave it alone.  It’s usually okay to stay facebook friends if the breakup was mutual and ended without hard feelings.  It can be nice to see how people grow and change by checking out their facebook profile. But let’s be realistic the majority of breakups are messy and emotional catastrophes, so it’s almost a guarantee that your facebook wall could end up looking like a battlefield of love.

It’s important to do what’s best for you in a time were your discovering life on your own, or preparing to successfully share it with someone new. Some say it’s harsh to delete a person representative of your past but here’s the truth: they broke up with you or you broke up with them already, which is as harsh as you can get, so why not take the extra step to make yourself feel better? You need to get away from it all but that doesn’t mean you have to book a super shuttle ride to the airport and hop on a plane. I’ve also been told that deleting an ex from your contacts is necessary because many people text their ex’s at emotionally unstable times causing confusion about the state of the relationship. Being happy is what matters most and if you can’t find happiness while constantly being reminded of your ex then you should make the change that is necessary to evolve on your own, and free yourself from that particular relationship. After all, there is so much more out there than the simulated life you “live” on facebook and so much more to say when you’re not constricted to 180 words or less by text.

-Anjelica LaFurno

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Posted in onLove, Relationships | 3 Comments »

Good, Cheap Coffee: Not a Mirage

June 22nd, 2011

For many New Yorkers, there’s not much that is more essential to a productive workday than a nice hot cup of coffee (or three or four). In the so-called city that never sleeps, hard working natives need their caffeine fix, and the city offers almost limitless options to coffee drinkers. Sometimes it can seem as if there’s a Starbucks on every corner, with two food trucks waiting outside and a fancy fair-trade place a few doors down. It’s hard to imagine any better proof of New York’s collective coffee addiction than the fact that you can often get a coffee at three or four different places on any random block.

Contents are both caffeinated and cheap

But like all addictions, an honest jones for caffeine can become costly. Even for the less serious coffee drinkers, who keep it down to a cup a day, if that cup is a $3.25 caramel macchiato, then your lunch money might end up in a Starbuck’s cash register. Although Starbuck’s may be everywhere, and it provides the quintessential overpriced coffee, New Yorkers have plenty of other opportunities to fork over a few dollars for a cup of steaming joe. For the privilege of standing in a long line and then carrying a recognizable paper cup, one can head to one of the city’s many gourmet to-go coffee joints, like Oren’s Daily Roast. Or if you really want to make that three dollar coffee worth it, you can pop into a café style coffee shop such as Think Coffee, where you can sit, text, pretend to read, and try to figure out what your neighbors are doing on their laptops. If you get really lucky, there might even be a ragtag hipster band performing in the corner (paid in free coffee).

If you’re reading this, you probably don’t want to spend your budget’s precious discretionary dollars on coffee, and outside of an expensive treat, the various and complex -ato and -ino drinks are probably not for you. Luckily, for anyone on a budget, there are better, cheaper ways to get that caffeine wake-up than spending two slices of pizza on your morning drink. The best way to save money on coffee is to brew your own. It’s easy enough, and with any cheap coffee maker you can fill your apartment with that delicious coffee smell in a few short minutes. And for the real New York coffee snobs, you can simply get your favorite neighborhood coffee shop’s beans and brew high quality coffee on your own time, on the cheap. My favorite is Mud coffee (of the Mud truck), which can be found at the truck, at the storefront on 9th street, and in many neighborhood markets in the East Village (I also love Dunkin’ Donuts coffee beans). Even if a particular shop’s beans may cost more than you could pay for them at the grocery store, the overall cost of brewing your own coffee is still far, far less than that of buying it by the cup. This method is most likely a budgetary necessity for any serious coffee drinkers, whose daily intake may exceed four or five cups, especially later in the semester.

But what to do without a coffee maker? I recently moved into a furnished sublet for the summer, and although I love having my own room and living in Brooklyn, I was appalled to find that “furnished New York apartment” does not necessarily include a coffee maker. I enjoy having a cup in the morning and when I’m working either on schoolwork or on the job, and although I love a nice frappuccino, I really can’t afford to spend a lot of money on coffee. After a couple weeks of testing my various options around the neighborhood (Bushwick) and around Manhattan, I came to a conclusion that may be startling to the true coffee lovers, who sneer at Starbuck’s chain coffee as viciously as at McDonald’s fast food roast. I found that my best, cheapest option for daily coffee was not just very cheap and incredibly convenient, but located on nearly every corner. This morning, I enjoyed a tasty cup from the breakfast cart next to the subway, for the price of $0.75. It took about twenty five seconds to order, pay, and receive my cup, and for the perpetually tardy, such service is greatly valued. I appreciate a good, fancy cup of coffee, but I am by no means a snob about the drink, and I’m perfectly happy to sacrifice that fresh-from-Nicaragua taste in order to be able to afford lunch. I don’t love Starbucks, but I do love Dunkin’ Donuts, and McDonald’s coffee is really not bad at all (and it’s about as cheap as food truck coffee). I prefer to brew my own, since doing so is cheaper than paying by the cup, and I can buy whatever beans I want, but when it comes to convenience, price, and taste, I am convinced that there is no better place to grab your morning cup than at the corner breakfast truck.

-Aaron Brown

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Posted in Cheap Eats, onFood | 2 Comments »

Urban Social

June 21st, 2011

Hail a cab and head towards fun.

It is a common misconception that the only kind of social life in college that is obtainable and attractive is found in student dorms. But this is not at all the case for those who commute or are simply bored with the routine of beer pong and predictable frat parties. I remember a month or two into my first semester of college when I visited one of my best friends for the weekend at the celebrated private university that she attends in Boston. I was expecting to be wowed by her social life since I attend a commuter college in NYC, but I found it to be simply not my type of fun. I was surprised that in a place famed as a “College Town” there wasn’t much to do but roam from dorm party to frat party to dorm party again. The monotony of big school social life was just not exciting. I realize for some it really is but for me it just wasn’t.

I will admit it was rather nice knowing the streets were infested with people my age from all over the United States and the world, which I found to be inspiring in many ways. It seems youth is admired not just by the old, but by the young too. It was just slightly disappointing to realize that for all the different people from all the different parts of the world concentrated on those streets, individuality still fell prey to the uniform social life religiously followed by most college students. Don’t get me wrong––it was an interesting experience, and I continue to visit this particular friend throughout the year to get my fix of dorm life, since a change of scenery is always nice, but my heart and social life lie in the Big Apple.

New York City is a playground for college students because of its many hip neighborhoods as well as the easy access provided by the subway system. There is an abundance of things to do and see in the worlds of music, art, comedy, and of course nightlife. And don’t forget food! New York City is home to some of the world’s best places to eat, and also there are so many different types of cuisines to try, like great Indian street food, which you can find at Bombay Talkie in Chelsea. In simple terms: a city of immigrants makes for a city of delicious, diverse food choices. The city is also well known for its vast reserves of high quality standup comedy. Seeing standup is always fun when you’re with a group of friends because there’s the promise of drinks, food, and laughs. What more could you ask for after a week that most likely consists of sleep deprivation combined with the stresses of work and school? I highly suggest checking out the People’s Improv Theather, which is affectionately known as The Pit. The Pit is located right down the block from Baruch College and is very student friendly. Also New York is chock full of art museums and festivals to visit with friends during the day where you can soak up some culture and then later at night you can find a place to dine or drink on pretty much any New York City block. The club scene is probably the best in the nation, with many of the most popular ones concentrated in the Meatpacking District. There are also tons of live music restaurants (Café Wha? of Greenwich Village) and music venues (Music Hall of Williamsburg, Webster Hall, Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge) where college students flock throughout the week to listen to bands that are the epitome of cool, both old and new.

I would take the variety of my commuter social life any day over the bland one experienced by those that neglect to push beyond the dorm, or attend college out of NYC. I’m not saying that there is no such thing as fun outside of NYC but there are certainly more options when it comes to having a college social life. Sometimes it takes a trip away from home to make you realize how great the city that you call home is in the first place. I learned that fun isn’t necessarily confined to the four walls of a cold dorm room, and instead it infinitely surrounds me once I walk out my door and rush to catch the train.

-Anjelica LaFurno

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Image Credit: nytimes.com

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Posted in onCollege, onFun, onTravel, onValues, Out On The Town, Uniqueness in NYC | 1 Comment »

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